Peripheral diversity and redistribution

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of ethnolinguistic conflict on redistribution. The analysis focuses on the conflict arising between `peripheral` minority groups and a dominant`centre´. We propose an index of linguistic conflict that (i) encompases both diversity and polarization, and (ii) accounts for the distance between languages. Our results suggest that linguistic diversity is a better predictor of redistriburion than linguistic polarization. We also fin that incorporating linguistic distances improves the predictive power of our conclusion.